THAT OLD FEELING

SYNOPSIS:
Movie star Lilly (Bette Midler) and journalist Dan (Dennis
Farina) have been happily divorced for 12 years. Everyone,
especially their daughter Molly (Paula Marshall), would like it
to stay that way. But when Molly’s boyfriend Keith (Jamie
Denton) proposes marriage and insists on a large traditional
family wedding, nothing short of a natural disaster is going to
keep Molly’s parents from coming. Even though they swear to
behave, everyone braces themselves for the inevitable - after
all, Lilly and Dan hate each other with nuclear capacity. But
when they are in the midst of find to a knock-down, drag-out
fight at the wedding reception, they are amazed to discover they
still share an enexplicable, uncontrollable passion for each
other…

"It's a nifty idea, to take a middle-aged couple and
rekindle their romance, or ‘14-year old itch’ as
co-star Farina calls it. There is an old-fashioned quaintness
about That Old Feeling, but quaintness doesn't necessarily make
for a strong comedy. This is a film that has patches of humour,
but lacks consistency, not only in the writing, but Carl Reiner's
sluggish direction. Just because you're making a film about
middle age, doesn't mean you hire a geriatric to make it. The
film lacks energy, the only time it really comes alive is when
Farina and Midler swap barbs, and then it's Farina, not Midler
(who does her typically repetitive schtick here), that dominates
the film. Paula Marshall is beautiful enough and has genuine
presence, but her character is sorely under-written, while former
NYPD Blue star Gail O'Grady has some better moments. Much of the
film lacks any kind of credibility; I mean, one honestly wonders
why the Farina and Midler characters ended up with the second
spouses they did. That Old Feeling is charming enough at times,
but really, when all's said and done, in this film, everything
old is definitely NOT new again. That Old Feeling is more like
That Sinking Feeling."
Paul Fischer